NEW! Explore Pennsylvania and Beyond with Encompass
Build geographic literacy, background knowledge, and comprehension with one hands-on mapping program!
A Great Fit for Pennsylvania Social Studies
Help your elementary students make sense of their world, both locally and globally, with Encompass. Ready-to-teach, hands-on activities build the geographic literacy and background knowledge students need to succeed in elementary school and be prepared for middle school.
Flexible and Fun Learning
Encompass is the perfect supplement for your social studies curriculum. Activities instantly engage students and only take 15–30 minutes to teach, making them easy to fit into instructional time.
Students get their hands on visually-rich atlases and markable maps, globes, and Social Studies Place Mats. And they regularly engage with chunked text, captions, maps, legends, graphs, and charts as well as age-appropriate primary and secondary sources.
Pennsylvania State Studies
The Pennsylvania Supplements expand on Grades 3 and 4 with activities aligned to Pennsylvania standards, connecting geography, history, and culture to students’ lives.
Third and fourth graders explore Pennsylvania’s geography, natural resources, history, and government, connecting the state’s people, historic places and symbols, civic institutions, and local economy to broader ideas about community, citizenship, and participation in a democratic society.
Everything You Need on a Handy Cart
A classroom cart with all the components: student atlases and markable kid-sized globes, Social Studies Place Mats, and desk maps scaffolded for K–5.
Teacher’s Guide with skills-based activities that can be taught in sequence or stand alone. Each activity includes clear objectives and is divided into four easy-to-follow sections.
Choose a grade below to learn about the specific components included. The image to the right shows you everything that’s included in Grade 3.
How Encompass Fits Your Goals
Flexibility & Ease of Use: Teach in 15–30 minutes; minimal prep; fits well with ELA or social studies.
Hands-On, High-Impact Learning: Students learn by doing, reading maps, marking globes, and analyzing sources.
Foundational Skill Building: Critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication—skills that transfer.
Pennsylvania Alignment: Supplements for Grades 3 and 4 connect state standards to engaging practice.
Beginnings
Kindergartners start learning about their neighborhoods and communities through hands-on geography resources that empower them to understand the world around them.
Components
- Encompass Beginnings Teacher's Guide
- The World Around Me Big Book Atlas
- 30 The World Around Me student atlases
- 6 9" activity globes
- 15 community desk maps
- 6 Social Studies Place Mats
- 6 raised relief maps
- 30 wide-tipped markers
- Elementary Atlas Cart
- 5-year subscription to interactive platform
Viewpoints
First graders are introduced to geography by identifying symbols, land, and water on a map, and learning about neighborhoods, our country, and the world.
Components
- Encompass Viewpoints Teacher's Guide
- 30 See the World student atlases
- 6 9" activity globe
- 30 U.S./world desk maps
- 15 community desk maps
- 6 Social Studies Place Mats
- 6 raised relief maps
- 30 wide-tipped markers
- Elementary Atlas Cart
- 5-year subscription to interactive platform
Changes
Second graders focus on new concepts and topics, such as natural features, community changes over time, U.S. population changes, and protecting our world.
Components
- Encompass Changes Teacher's Guide
- 30 Our Changing World student atlases
- 6 9" activity globe
- 30 U.S./world desk maps
- 15 community desk maps
- 6 Social Studies Place Mats
- 6 raised relief maps
- 30 narrow-tipped markers
- Elementary Atlas Cart
- 5-year subscription to interactive platform
Connections
Third graders explore additional concepts and topics, including cardinal directions, latitude and longitude, and taking action in communities, in our country, and around the world.
Components
- Encompass Connections Teacher's Guide
- 30 Our Place in the World student atlases
- 6 9" activity globe
- 30 U.S./world desk maps
- 15 community desk maps
- 6 Social Studies Place Mats
- 6 raised relief maps
- 30 narrow-tipped markers
- Elementary Atlas Cart
- 5-year subscription to interactive platform
- Teacher's Guide Supplement
- 30 Pennsylvania desk maps
- 6 Pennsylvania Place Mats
U.S. Regions
Fourth graders focus even more on geography by decoding maps and exploring physical, political, and thematic maps and studying our country's diverse
geographic regions.
Components
- Encompass U.S. Regions Teacher's Guide
- 30 Our Country's Geography student atlases
- 6 9" activity globe
- 30 U.S./world physical desk maps
- 15 U.S./world political desk maps
- 6 Social Studies Place Mats
- 6 raised relief maps
- 30 narrow-tipped markers
- Elementary Atlas Cart
- 5-year subscription to interactive platform
- Teacher's Guide Supplement
- 30 Pennsylvania desk maps
- 6 Pennsylvania Place Mats
U.S. History
Fifth graders explore the geographic history of our country, including the time of the first Americans to twentieth-century America and modern America's
changing population and technological advances.
Components
- Encompass U.S. History Teacher's Guide
- 30 Our Country's History student atlases
- 6 9" activity globe
- 30 U.S./world folding desk maps
- 6 Social Studies Place Mats
- 6 raised relief maps
- 30 narrow-tipped markers
- Elementary Atlas Cart
- 5-year subscription to interactive platform
Get your hands on Encompass!
Please fill out the form, email sales@socialstudies.com, or call 800-421-4246 to connect with your Pennsylvania curriculum specialist.